5-under 67 puts her one stroke ahead of joint second group; Kim Min-sol shares seventh

Yoo Hyun-jo plays an iron shot on the third hole during the first round of the KLPGA Tour Iceberg Golf-Seoul Shinmun Open at H1 Club in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday. [KLPGA]
Yoo Hyun-jo plays an iron shot on the third hole during the first round of the KLPGA Tour Iceberg Golf-Seoul Shinmun Open at H1 Club in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday. [KLPGA]

Yoo Hyun-jo claimed the solo lead after the opening round of the KLPGA Tour Iceberg Golf-Seoul Shinmun Open, which carries a purse of 1.5 billion won ($1.11 million), setting the stage for a bid at back-to-back victories.

Yoo carded a 5-under-par 67 on Friday at H1 Club (par 72) in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, posting one eagle, four birdies and one bogey. She leads the joint second group — comprising Seong Yu-jin, An Song-i, Lee Seung-yeon, Song Eun-a and Ma Seo-young, all at 4-under 68 — by one stroke, as she chases her third win of the season.

Yoo, the 2025 KLPGA Tour Player of the Year, claimed her first win of the season at the DB Women's Championship in April and followed it up with a victory last week at the HJ Shipbuilding & Construction-Dongbu Championship.

On Friday, Yoo holed out her second shot from 88.4 yards on the par-4 first hole for her first eagle of the season. She dropped a bogey on the par-4 third but immediately recovered with a birdie on the par-4 fourth, then added consecutive birdies on the par-5 sixth and par-4 seventh. After a steady run of pars on the back nine, she drained one more birdie on the par-3 17th after sticking her tee shot to within one meter of the cup.

"The good feel from my swing carried over from last week's win," Yoo said. "The back nine felt much tougher than the front, so I chose to play it safe rather than go on the attack." She added that fatigue had been a factor heading into the round. "I was physically and mentally spent right after the win, and my body felt heavy today too — but the result was better than I expected," she said. "I'll stay focused for the remaining rounds and go for what would be my first back-to-back wins."

Kim Min-sol, who leads the money list with three wins this season, opened with a bogey-free 3-under 69 to share seventh place. Seo Gyo-rim, who sits atop the Player of the Year points standings with four wins this season, struggled to a 7-over 79 and was tied for 96th.

Ryu Hae-ran and Yoon I-na, both active on the LPGA Tour, each shot 4-over 76 to finish the opening day tied for 76th.


yjc@heraldcorp.com